Instant Makeup
Instant Makeup Instant Makeup is a makeup printing system invented in 2015 by the Korean professional makeup company Lenaiga Inc. The system is able to finish a full makeup in about 5 minutes. It was awarded “most innovative makeup product” of 2015 by the International Makeup Industry Association. History: The concept of Instant Makeup system originated from a beauty competition in 1995 which was sponsored by the Leneiga Inc. In order to speed up the making up process in the backstage, Dae-Jung Lee, the chief makeup artist of the Leneiga Inc., invented the first prototype of Instant Makeup system. 1 Although the system can only apply one layer of makeup a time, it successfully speeded up the process from three hours per person to 30 minutes. After about 3-years development, the first generation of the system was released in early 1999 to professional makeup artists. The system was targeting the filming industry. The system achieved limited success. Only about 36 systems were sold and mixed feedback was received from makeup artists. The main complaint was complex operation process. The system was heavily used in the 2000 movie “End of the World’s End, which received a Korean Academy of Filming Award (KAFA) for Best Makeup at the 21st KAFA Awards. The company almost cancelled further development due to the economy crisis in 2001. The development team reduced to 3 persons in 2003. Major upgrade of the system was initiated after the printer department of the Sumsang Electronics Inc. joined the development in 2010. After 4 years of redesigning, the new system under the brand name Instant Makeup was first released in the 2014 Korean Consumer Makeup Exhibition at Soul. The new system was able to print 25 different types makeup products with 12 different tones/colors. During the 3-day exhibition, one Instant Makeup machine was able to serve more than 300 customers at an average rate of 5 minutes per person. Leneiga started to take preorder January 1st, 2015, and the first shipment was made in March 23rd, 2015. More than 1 million Instant Makeup systems were sold in 2015. And the system was introduced to the United States on April 1, 2016. Operation: The Instant Makeup system consists of a refillable makeup cartridge, a makeup printer, and a 3-D scanner. The system first takes a 3-D scan of the customer to determine the facial structures. After that, the customer was able to choose the makeup from 360 different predetermined styles. The customers then need to sit still in front of the printer until all layers of makeups were printed. A hot air blower will dry the makeups in the process. The printing and drying process will take about 3 minutes. Marketing: Consumers criticized Leneiga for taking the hunger marketing strategy since Leneiga only takes limited amount orders every day. On average, a customer needs to try a week to preorder a system.2 Also, Leneiga requires 80% down payment during preorder and average lead time is about 3 months. The Instant Makeup system was introduced to the United States market in April 1st, 2016. And the preorder system was overloaded for one week because of large demand. References: 1. “From concept to market leader: the history of the Instant Makeup”, Exhibition at the National Makeup History Museum of Korean, April 1 to September 31, 2016. 2. Korean Consumer Report, 2015. Lijia Tan